Why do these machines keep coming back through time?
Oh, right, he did say "I'll be back"...
Judgment Day. The war against the machines begins. But at least we still got these reviews:
Comic title: Terminator OMNIBUS: Volume 1
Art by Chris Warner, Matt Wagner, Paul Gulacy, Vince Giarrano and others
Written by James Robinson, John Arcudi & Ian Edginton
Published by Dark Horse ComicsFrom 2008
Lineup Terminator Series
Format: Omnibus-sized Trade Paperback collecting the mini-series The Terminator: Tempest, The Terminator: Secondary Objectives, The Terminator: The Enemy Within and the Terminator one shot.
Dark Horse made a name for itself adapting several cult 80s icons. Mostly through comic book series based on science fiction franchises, from their landmark series Aliens and Predator to others such as Indiana Jones, RoboCop and The Thing, etc.
From 1990 to 2000 Dark Horse acquired the rights to The Terminator right off Now Comics who previously had only made a movie adaptation and a short limited series.
Like they did in the past for their other comics, they allowed different creators to explore several ideas and develop concepts around what was seen in the movies.
Dark Horse produced countless stories and crossovers until they lost the IP to Beckett Comics in 2003. (Dynamite would get Terminator in 2007 and the series has been since 2009 at IDW Publishing now)
This omnibus collects three related mini-series and a one-shot.
The first story "Tempest" provides a very interesting alternative to the abysmal Terminator Salvation, or what it could have been. Following similar ideas such as human/robot cyborg hybrids and the post-apocalyptic war reaching its climax. Yet it was published in 1989, before Terminator 2 was ever conceived, making it one of the earliest follow-up to the original movie. It was written by The Mask comic book original writer John Arcudi with art by Chris Warner. It's an original story that starts in Los Angeles in the year 2029. A special human resistance squad led by Colonel Mary Randall finds a more advanced Time Displacement Chamber than the prototype John Connor and Kyle Reese used in the movie. They go back in time to "present day" in 1984 while Kyle Reese went protecting Sarah Connor to achieve a secondary mission, prevent the rise of Skynet. But a mysterious cyborg named I825.M helps an entire T-800 unit follow through time to protect Dr. Bertram Hollister who would go on to develop the artificial intelligence while working at Cyberdyne Systems. The Terminators bring a plasma gun in the past in the guts of a human soldier that was left behind. Long story short, Mary is the only survivor in this story. A Dr. Ed Astin at Cyberdyne gets mixed in this plot and forced to go along. It's a story as epic and intriguing as the original movie. It would have made a great sequel no doubt. Arcudi's story is very well scripted and moving. The art of Chris Warner is just fantastic. It takes the most of this omnibus and is the main feature here no doubt.
The second tale is the one shot, who usually goes by the title "The Other Sarah Connor". It was scripted by famed writer James Robinson with art by Matt Wagner. This story follows a second T-800 Terminator that was apparently sent back at the same time as the Arnold Terminator in the original film. In the movie there was 4th Sarah Connor that was out of town that didn't get killed... well this comic fills in this unmentioned story. A Sarah Lang was just married to a John Connor guy (no relation!) and they were out of L.A. at the time. This John Connor is an artist and his Sarah Connor is apparently planning to kill him for his money. This story reveals the resistance was able to send in sleeper agents along Kyle Reese at different eras to protect Sarah Connor and her family up to the year John Connor would be born. Ellis Ruggles was a human resistance that was sent in the 50s when he was 21 and lived through racism and other human horrors which almost made him abandon the cause several times. Apparently other resistance fighters were sent to other decade such as a man who died instantly after phasing out on a freeway in 1965. It's a fun little story that brings in a new angle to the Terminator mythos. With absolutely stunning moody art from Matt Wagner, it makes the whole story in my eyes.
"Secondary Objectives", the third tale, is a 1991 sequel to Arcudi's Tempest above. Another story written by James Robinson with art by Six from Sirius creator Paul Gulacy. A fourth Terminator T-800 model Z000.M woke up a bit late in the future and followed through time the others. But due to the delay of the time travel ended up in the middle of the ocean with those coordinates and had to walk under the water to Los Angeles. Our trio of heroes from the previous story has been bidding their time, not knowing what to do next exactly. I825.M, the human cyborg is battling his inner demons for his humanity. But a Terminator was not destroyed and is back following its secondary mission now that Skynet's future is secured at Cyberdyne, to attack the now pregnant Sarah Connor. A detective Mark Sloan gets stuck in the middle of this mess and starts following up these events. Our heroes leave Astin behind for the big showdown in Mexico City. I825.M reveals his real name, his old human name Dudley. Dudley tries to build back the only weapon that could probably stop a Terminator. Z000.M reaches them in an epic climax shoot-out in the streets of Mexico. It's a fun story that wasn't probably necessary to begin with, but it provides a conclusion to the original story that was left open ended. Gulacy's art is...well, unique. A bit strange on the characters' face but it does fit the robots quite well I must say.
The last feature is another sequel of Mary, Dudley and Astin's story. "The Enemy Within" was written by Ian Edginton and drawn by Vince Giarrano. Dudley's still fighting for his soul. He decides he wants Astin's to attempt cleaning up Skynet's programming from his robotic half. But Astin in a complete departure from the previous stories wants to go back to Cyberdyne and make some money even if it means the end of the world for the rest of the planet. Our favorite cop Mark Sloan is working his way through all this and slowly accepting the fact that robots from the future are apparently running the streets to insure their rise to the power. The government tries to mess in his investigation. Another squad of human resistance finally arrive to prevent the construction of the new Cyberdyne buildings which will be the place the final fight took place in. And the Z000.M T-800 survived the previous events. It was repaired by a biker gang and given a new demonic look. It's the story that feels a bit much and doesn't bring in anything new - besides a devil-looking T-800. The characters don't sound nothing like they used too. And the art's a bit too pin-up-ysh for my taste, Mary looks nothing like her former self and sports such awful clothing..
Anyway, for over 300 pages worth of comics, it's a great collection that features some of the greatest creator of the medium.
Overall, even if the last stories feel like more of the same, it's a pretty nice book. Recommended to any fans of the saga that want to have a good read.
Dark Horse made many good adaptations, and the Terminator series is another great example of what they can do best.
The fight against the machines sounds desperate in a world where these Terminator killing machines can access to time travel and the computers are always searching for an alternative way to win the war.
The first two stories Tempest and One Shot are easily the best of this trade, offering a perfect example of great new stories that only deepens the franchise in new original ways. The others are okay, but not on the same kind of level.
I give it:
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